Fragments of Noir

Friday, 20 February 2026

All Rigged

Maybe it's just the whole damn world is like central casting. They got it all rigged before you ever show up.

They Shoot Horses Don't They
Sydney Pollack
1969

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They Shoot Horses Don't They
Horace McCoy - 1935

Downpour of Shadows #30

Dead Reckoning

Carny

End of the Affair (1955)

Fight Club

Fallen Angel

Last Wave

Flamingo Road

Munich

The Housemaid (1960)

Nightmare Alley

Ministry of Fear

Three Days of the Condor

Une Si Jolie Petite Plage

Last Seduction

Odds Against Tomorrow

The Square (2008)

Shoot the Piano Player

Thursday, 19 February 2026

Where I Was Going

When that Greyhound rolled into town

I didn't have any idea where i was going

The streets were deserted and i booked a room

across from the depot

Her final words still echoing

in my head

"You won't make it in this world"

unknown

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Easypeasy AI

Wednesday, 18 February 2026

Their faces were foreign like the town ; brown Mexican faces, and their voices, unaccompanied, were like a heaven choir. He didn't care about that. He hadn't come here to pray ; he'd come to keep his eye on a rat. He wasn't going to be sucked in by holiness.

Ride the Pink Horse
Dorothy B Hughes
1946

Tuesday, 17 February 2026

Mosaic Noir #231

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

Deadlier Than the Male

The Verdict (1982)

Double Indemnity

The Killers (1964)

Lady from Shanghai

Angel Heart

The Sniper

Hot Spot

The Burglar

Reservoir Dogs

Killers Kiss

Human Being Becomes

Utterly usurped by his addictions, he was a nightmare to behold, particularly in his last decades - his toenails long and filthy, hair unkempt and unwashed, teeth unbrushed ; he did not like to bathe. Drugs twisted his character too, forced him to lie, cheat, sell his instruments even. Mostly he could be counted on to be conniving and apathetic, what a human being becomes deep into drugs. Still his music arose out of this muck, like a lotus springs from mud.